Cargill opens $40 M chicken processing facility in Russia

Cargill has opened a chicken processing facility at its complex in Efremov, Russia. This poultry facility represents a further investment of $40 million at the company’s industrial complex, located south of Moscow. The facility—which marks Cargill’s first primary chicken processing operations in Russia—will predominantly supply McDonald’s restaurants in Russia with high quality Chicken McNuggets as well as other chicken products.

“Cargill has had a strong business relationship with McDonald’s for many years and when sourcing locally became a key requirement for McDonald’s in Russia, we were pleased to be able to work together and help them find a solution,” said Jeremy Graves, General Manager, Cargill Meats Europe. “Our processing plant and our joint efforts to build a sustainable local supply chain is yet another example of the ongoing collaboration between our two companies.”

As part of this investment to establish a local chicken supply chain in Russia, Cargill has started to develop local supply partnerships with Russian poultry rearers in order to ensure that the locally-sourced chicken meets Cargill and McDonald’s high quality, food safety, and welfare requirements. The facility, which employs more than 140 staff, has the capacity to produce 18,000 metric tons per annum of further processing chicken products.